Ethel Tallent / Leskovych (1908 - 1973)

Ethel Audrey Tallent is one of the “outlayers:” not a direct ancestor.  Her mother was a Watson – which is why she is included.  I was going to write a story about her mother, but seeing that my mother actually met Ethel, I’ve decided to write instead about Ethel.

Ethel Audrey Tallent, was born 15 April 1908, with the birth being registered in Hendon, Middlesex.  Hendon is 11 km northeast of London, and has been part of Greater London since 1965.  She had one sibling: an older brother named Robert Alfred Watson Tallent, who was born on 14 May 1903 in Lowestoft.  Her parents were Ellen (nee Watson) and Robert Tallent.

Ethel’s mother Ellen, or Nellie as she was known, was born on 13 July 1868.  She

married Robert Tallent in 1902 in Lowestoft, when she was 34 (and he was 35). Ellen had her first child the following year.  It may be common to have children in your late 30s at the beginning of the 21^st Century but was unusual a century before.  Ellen was about to turn 40 when Ethel was born!  Robert Tallent, Ethel’s father died in late 1912, when Ethel was four years old. 

Ethel and her brother, Robert, grew up in London with their mother, Ellen; Ethel spent her whole life in the London district. Ellen Tallent died when Ethel was 33.  At that time Ellen was living in Ipswich, Suffolk.  Ipswich is about 70 km from Lowestoft, and was where Ethel’s brother, Robert Tallent, lived with his wife and three children. 

Ethel corresponded with the Australian branch of the Watson family: exchanging letters with her cousin’s daughter, Clara Woolley, who was two years older than her.  They had a lot in common – well, they had two main things in common – they both married at about the age of 42 and they both had no children!  Ethel married Fidor Leskovych in 1950.  Fidor Leskovych, a Ukranian, had been forcibly moved to Germany as a farm labourer during World War II, and had sought refuge in Britain immediately after the war.

In 1965 Helen and Gary Hilton visited Ethel and Fidor at their home in Carbone Hill, Hatfield, Herforshire: about 30 km north of London. Fortunately they took a photo of the event!

Ethel Audrey Leskovych died in 1973, she was 64. 

Relationship to SNR = cousin of Great-great-grandmother

Marry Cullen / Watson / Luker (1793 - 1862)

Mary Cullen was born in about 1793 at Greenstreet, Kent, England. Greenstreet is 80 km from London and was initially part of the ancient trackway used between Canterbury and St Albans; it is likely that Chaucer’s pilgrims travelled through Greenstreet. In 1793 it was a very small village, little more than the orchard. There were many Cullens in Greenstreet around that time.  Greenstreet was at the northern part of the parish of Lynsted, and it was at the Saint Peter and Paul church in Lynsted that Mary was baptised on 10 March 1793 by her parents Mary and William.

Nothing is known of Mary’s early life, including any siblings or her parents' lives - except that her father was a gardener.  Sometime before 1819 she married Thomas Watson and they had at least three children; Clarissa Ann (born 1819); George (1826) and Alfred (1828).  Thomas died before 1841, but we don’t know exactly when.  Indeed, nothing is known of Thomas except that he must have existed at the time that his children were baptised!  

At the 1841 Census, Mary Watson was living at St Pauls, Deptford, Greenwich, Kent with Clarissa and Alfred.  George, who would have been 15, was not with his mother.  His fate is unknown. In the same building, but a different unit, lived Edwin Luker, a carpenter.  On 29 July 1841 Mary married Edwin at St Leonards, Shoreditch, Middlesex.  They were both in their late forties.  Mary’s son Alfred also became a carpenter – and it was possibly due to Edwin Luker.

Mary's grand-daughter owned some old photographs taken by a photographer based in Greenwich. It is believed that two of these are photographs of Mary.  I've included this below.

Mary Cullen / Watson / Luker

  

By the 1851 Census both Clarissa and Alfred were married - their stories will be told in due course.  Mary was living at 6 Victoria Place, St Paul Deptford, Greenwich with her daughter Clarissa, and Clarissa’s family.  Edwin Luker was at the Greenwich Union Workhouse, Greenwich.  People ended up in Workhouses for a number of reasons.  Potentially Edwin had significant health issues and couldn’t be cared for in Clarissa’s house.  Perhaps Mary and Edwin’s marriage had not been successful and they were estranged.  In any case, it must have been something rather unfortunate!  The 1861 Census told a similar story.  Mary, still living with her daughter and family; and Edwin living at the Workhouse.  Mary Luker died in 1862 at Greenwich.  She was 69.  Edwin Luker died in 1883 – having lived for over 30 years at the Workhouse in Greenwich.  Life was tough…

[Relationship to SNR = Great-great-great-great-great grandmother]

Sarah Osborne - Watson

I really like the fact that my great-great grandmother wrote down information about her family.  It makes me think that I'm like her - she would have used a family history program, had it been available! I've already written a post about her - Clara Watson/Furnsby - but this post is about her mother!

Sarah Osborne was born on 12 August 1829 in Lowestoft. Her parents were Martha Gibbs and Thomas Osborne.

Martha and Thomas married on 25 April 1822 in Oulton, Norfolk.  They soon moved to Lowestoft and appear to have stayed there for the rest of their lives.  According to Parish records, they had six children baptised of which Sarah was their second eldest child. 

Sarah worked as a dressmaker.  Sarah had received a basic education as she could sign her own name at her wedding.  Her father, Thomas, died on 28 June 1853, age 54.

On 25 October 1859, Sarah Osborne married Alfred Watson at the Parish Church in Lowestoft witnessed by Sarah’s sister, Mary Ann and her husband George Clark.   Alfred was not a Suffolk native.  He was born in Brixton, Surrey on 19 March 1828, coming to Lowestoft in the 1850s.  He was a carpenter. He was also able to sign his name at his marriage to Sarah

Sarah had seven children: all the details of their births and deaths are known up to the early 1900s because Sarah’s daughter Clara Elizabeth wrote the information down, presumably so she wouldn’t forget!  Her children were:

·      Mary Ann – born 12 August 1860;

·      Clara Elizabeth – born 13 September 1861;

·      Emma Sarah – born on 18 March 1863, died on 13 April 1867;

·      Alfred Thomas - the only son and he also died young –born on 13 September 1864 and died on 13 January 1866;

·      Hannah – born 1 October 1866;

·      Ellen – born 13 July 1868; and

·      Frances – born 30 May 1871.

The names of children in families at this time would often follow a particular pattern.  Sarah and Alfred did not follow such a pattern.  Their first daughter was named after one of Sarah's sister - which was also Alfred's mother's name.  The second daughter's middle name was another of Sarah's sister's names.

With the exception of Emma, all Sarah’s children were baptised in St Peter's Lowestoft.  St Peter's was built in 1833.  Unfortunately in 1974 this large, stately, 140 year old church was demolished as the congregation had decreased to such a size as was unsustainable.  A block of units designed for elderly people were built on the site. It is not known why Emma was baptised at the Free Church, Lowestoft.

In the 1861 Census, Sarah, Albert and infant daughter Mary Ann were living in Raglan Street (the exact number in the street was not recorded).  Sarah's younger sister, Elizabeth, was living with the family at this time.  In 1871, Sarah, Albert and their four daughters were living at 57 Raglan Street. 

Sarah’s mother, Martha, died on 23 November 1878, aged 79.  Both Sarah’s parents are buried in the Churchyard of St Margaret’s, Lowestoft. Their names have not been recorded in a recent register, probably indicating that the headstone was part of the graveyard that was demolished when the Church was extended.

In 1881, the family was still living at 57 Raglan Street – with their five daughters.

By 1891, just Ellen was living with Sarah and Alfred, and they had moved to 13 Raglan Street: 

·      Mary Ann had married and lived in Lowestoft with her husband and three daughters;

·      Clara Elizabeth had married, emigrated to Australia with her husband and, in 1891, was about to have her third child;

·      Hannah had also married and was living in Lowestoft – she did not have any children; and

·      Frances – it is not known why she wasn’t with her family at the 1891 Census.  She died late in 1891 - on 21 December - age 20.

Sarah lived her whole life in Lowestoft.  She died on 22 February 1897 aged 68.  Her daughter Mary Ann died later that year, leaving three young daughters.  Alfred Watson died five years later on 11 June 1902 aged 74.  Both are buried in Lowestoft Cemetery.

Sarah Osborne - Watson

Relationship to SNR = Great, great, great, great grandmother

Clara Elizabeth Watson

Clara has become one of my "favourites".  There are lots of reasons for this, but mainly stem from the fact that she obviously loved photos and kept a beautiful Victorian Photo Album of her family.  Unfortunately she forgot to label anyone, but that's life!  She did keep a record of the birth dates of her five sisters and one brother - which also included the dates of death for a number. 

Clara was born on 13 October 1861 in Lowestoft, Suffolk.  She was the second child of Sarah Osborne and Alfred Watson (whose stories will be told another day!).  Clara grew up with her sisters in Lowestoft, mainly living in a house at 57 Raglan Street.  

Clara married George Furnsby in Lowestoft on 18 June 1884.  George was born on 15 February 1856 in Bethnal Green, London, the son of Ann Bunn and Richard Fernsby.  Both Ann and Richard had been married before – Richard was 51 years of age.  George was the only child of the couple to survive infancy.  The spelling of George’s surname varied in his early life.  All spellings of George’s name from 1881 are Furnsby, but on official records his father always spelt his name Fernsby.  George’s mother died when he was four and his father when he was 14.  His mother’s family was from Norfolk and this may have attracted him to Lowestoft.  George worked as a mariner.

Clara had her first child, Clara Elizabeth, on 9 February 1885 in Lowestoft.  George was absent.  He had arrived in Sydney, Australia three days earlier on board Rome.  He is listed on the crew as a lamp trimmer. This person is responsible for keeping the oil lamps of a ship burning brightly, especially the deck and navigation lamps.  Clara and her 23 month old daughter, Clara, followed George to Australia and arrived in Sydney on board the Port Victor on 23 January 1887.  This must have been a difficult move for Clara.  She was not moving with any other members of her family and she would have known that the likelihood of seeing her family again were relatively small.  So what does one pack when moving from England to Australia?  Clara brought her essentials – birth and marriage certificates, and her photo album.   These items were precious enough to Clara that she kept them for her whole life.  Fortunately they still survive.  Clara didn't see any of her family members again, but they did regularly correspond.

Clara and George had two more children born in Sydney; Alfred George, born in 1888 and Sarah, born in 1893.

In 1898 George Furnsby, then aged 42, was working on the wharves.  Family folklore says that he was crushed between a wharf and a boat.  He died at the family home, 25 Ewell St, Balmain, on 4 November 1898 as a result of the injuries received.

It is not known whether Clara contemplated returning to Lowestoft at this time.  Her children were then aged 13,10 and 5.  She may have felt that it would be disruptive to move them, or perhaps she had come to like her adopted country.  Another reason she may have decided to stay is that she did not have the funds to return to England.  This seems unlikely as Clara seems to have lived a comfortable life in Sydney.  NSW Probate records for George Furnsby existed but have been lost, so the value of his estate is not known.

Clara spent the next 13 years raising her children in Balmain, Sydney.

On 15 February 1905, Clara’s eldest daughter, Clara, married Robert Woolley, a butcher.  Clara became a grandmother on 10 December 1905 with the birth of Clara Margaret.  Clara and Robert had a further four children. 

Then in 1910, Alfred George married Annie Haynes daughter of Catherine Watt and Thomas William Haynes.  Alfred and Annie had three children.  They lived in the family home for the rest of their lives.

On 22 March 1911, Clara married for a second time.  The groom was widower George James Hardwick, the son of Mary Ann Dinhaur and George Wilshire Hardwick, born in 1851 in London.  Clara’s children were all very pleased with the marriage as everyone in the family liked ‘Hardie’.  George was a widower, but had no children of his own.  Certainly at the time of his death, his brother’s, wife and stepchildren acknowledged his death in the Newspaper.  Clara and George Hardwick moved to Gladesville, however, Alfred remained living in the Balmain house with his family.

Clara’s youngest child, Sarah, married William Walsh in 1912 and they had three children. 

All the children remained in Sydney.  

Clara and George Hardwick lived at Sunnyside Street, Gladesville for most of their married life.  Their home was named ‘Lowestoft’.  It was common for people to name their homes after their English birthplaces.  They were married for 16 years before Hardie died on 7 November 1927.  Clara went to live with her eldest daughter, Clara in Vaucluse.  She even met great-grandchildren.       

Clara died at 4 Peel Street, Vaucluse on 5 March 1941, aged 79.  Her grand-daughter, Lorna, said that she simply collapsed in the kitchen and died.  Clara is buried with George Hardwick in Waverley Cemetery, on the cliffs of the eastern suburbs of Sydney overlooking the ocean.  It’s not the same ocean of her youth but she couldn’t complain about the view!

Clara Furnsby nee Watson holding her daughter Clara in Lowestoft.

[Relationship to SNR = Great-great-great grandmother]